This weeks single review will be looking at a five piece band called New Hands. Coming from a Canadian/Leeds background, the group have a lot of influences for its style and the way the music is produced from artists such as Caribou. You can check out the song at the bottom of this review. The electronic blends of guitars and synths bind together to create a pulsing beat to drive the music forward. Using layers of music within each section of the song keeps the listener wanting more... and they get more.The vocals seem to really become a major part of the song when everything is kicked up a gear mid-way through song like some sort of chorus, but doesn't have the major distinct features of a chorus. From simple beat textures added to the baritone vocals, this song has got it all. Produced by 'Holy F***s' Graham Walsh, it is clear that the electronic textures used are spaced evenly with a great sound. This track is recommended for headphone users to really get an essence of each layer and texture added to the track. From synthetic melodies to tambourine, its clear that the producer has thought about how to make this song sound big and it has paid off.
The vocals on the record give the track another dimension, the range makes the whole track seem rather disco-punk, but with the flamboyancy of electronic stages pushing and driving the song forward. If you enjoy the track, be sure to keep an eye out for the bands debut album release that's due in 2015. With thanks too to Partisan PR for introducing me to the band, I'm looking forward to seeing what is in store for the band in 2015.
Thanks for reading and until next time Lewis Soundcloud Link - Strange Attractor
Hello! Welcome to blog post 36! Today I have an album that I have been listening to since its release last year and a band that I've been following for a good 2/3 years. We The Kings are a pop-punk band from Florida, USA and have always been a band I can fall back on for some great music. Their previous albums were a fantastic listen, as it was some ace American pop-punk tunes. Catchy, grungy, rocky with that dose of pop sprinkled on it to make me not listen to them. We The Kings members are: Travis Clark - Vocals/Guitar Hunter Thomsen - Guitar/ Backing Vocals Charles Trippy - Bass Coley O'Toole - Keys/Backing Vocals/Guitar Danny Duncan - Drums/ Percussion I originally got into the band through Youtuber and bassist of the band Charles Trippy (CTFxC) when he had just joined the band (along with Coley O'Toole). I checked them out and I loved their sound they were producing and was surprised they weren't as well known as they were back in 2011. Releasing albums such as "Sunshine State of Mind" and "Smile Kid" they have just been escalating in their fame which is great to see because these guys deserve it!
I went to see them live at the beginning of 2013 at Scala in London. Its safe to say, these guys rock on stage. The amount of energy they put into their shows is insane. They even made Hunter disappear with the insane amounts of smoke they were churning out in that small venue. A fantastic night and I was lucky enough to meet the band afterwards (expect Travis).
So when the announcement of "Somewhere Somehow" was being announced I was really looking forward to some more music from the band. My first impressions on the album was certainly that it was...different. They have definitely matured with their sound, but I can't help but feel its lost its 'punk' side to the other albums and the sound that I was so familiar with.
Giving the album some time, I have grown to love the album personally. Yes it does sound a lot different to the older albums, but they have always had that 'pop' persona about their sound. Songs like "Feel Alive" and "See You In My Dreams" have great chorus' that you can still head bang to, but not with so much grunge or punk. That doesn't mean they've lost their rock taste or that their live performances have numbed down...oh no! At points I do personally feel like its moved too far away from the punk sides in songs such as 'Live Young Die Forever'. Purely for the fact that its electronic drums being used and as a drummer myself, I personally think acoustic has such a more powerful effect on songs. This is just personal preference though.
I think some bands need that change to really make it in the business. This album has given the biggest step forward so far for the 5 piece and its easy to see why. The band have produced a fantastic record full of catchy rhythms, powerful chorus' and an all round lovable record to listen to. If I could describe the album in one it would be 'Fun'. The reason for this is just because each song doesn't make me really focus on anything too seriously. Each song has a 'fun' tone and has this vibe throughout to reflects on the bands live performance too. I have to give some major credit to the vocalist Travis for his wicked voice and great songwriting. If you look up the lyrics for each of the songs on any album, they have been really thought about and fit with each song We The Kings have released. That isn't easy to do either, but he makes it look easy!
The songs you should go check out are "Find You There", "Feel Alive", "Just Keep Breathing" and "Art Of War". All the others are great, but these are the ones to check out if you don't have time. Somewhere Somehow is out now in all good record stores and let me know what you thought of the songs/album if you've heard it! Thanks for reading and until next time Lewis
Hello, Welcome to blog post 33! Today I have a wicked band from Nottingham called RJ Marks who is an indie/pop four piece that is certainly writing a lot of music that is turning heads. RJ Marks is made up of Richard Howell (vocals, guitar), Jake Buckley (lead guitar), Dicky Fountain (bass) and John Schofield (drums). The band have a few names they are already associated with such as Jake Bugg with the singer Richard Howell playing for him. Both supporting each other at various venues too and with Jake Buckley (guitar) a virtuoso and naturally talented musician, this band are a force to be reckoned with.
The single called "Calling Out" raises high hopes in the future for the band with obvious signs of great song writing from each of the band members. Adding elements in the song throughout the song keeps the train rolling and the listener staying to hear what they are offering. The single starts off with a quiet guitar riff and starts to pick up with some pretty piano lines and powerful guitar chords struck for the verses. The verses are a great time to really focus on Richards vocals which suit the band really well for the style they are playing.
I look forward to hearing what else they can deliver with Richards heart-felt vocals and impressive song writing for such a young band. With a feature on the 'BBC Introducing' show in Nottingham earlier this year as well, I feel like this is the beginning for this band. The single 'Calling Out' by RJ Marks will be released on the 27th October so make a note in your diaries! Thank you very much for reading and until next time Lewis
Hello, Welcome to blog post 30. Today I want to expand on my review I published on Wednesday about the new Twin Atlantic album and how they have moved from a real rock band to purposefully writing 'pop' songs for more publicity. Personally, I feel this is becoming more of a trend than just a one off thing for bands to do. Now, this is just my opinion, I am entitled to it and if you think I am wrong then that's okay, but I just hope you understand my points I will be making in this post. So... when I was around 16/17 I was going through a phase of listening to a lot of rock/punk and sometimes metal. The bands that I would listen to constantly would be Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, 30 Seconds To Mars and Alter Bridge. This to me was how people should rock on their albums. Keeping up high tempo most of the time with a lots of guitar rhythms and catchy lines.
So after listening to albums such as "Riot" and "Brand New Eyes" from Paramore. When it came around to their new album I was pretty excited to hear what they had to offer considering they were now down to 3 members and the singles "Monster" and "Renegade" before the album 'Paramore' got me pumped. When the first single from the album came along called "Now", I was disappointed in the sound. I couldn't hear that driving guitar that was so precious in the albums before. I was hoping the second single would provide more promise. Again, I was let down, another 'pop' sound. There were no rock elements to the album at all and I was so disappointed. Especially when Hayley Williams was saying "this is the album we've always wanted to make". This example of Paramore isn't the first time that I have been disappointed with new albums from bands that I absolutely adored in my teens. This is starting to become a regular appearance. Its ruining my excitement for new albums if bands just keep producing pop for the larger audiences. I can understand why they want to do it, but people like myself are just getting fed up with every poxy band churning some pop crap out. This happened with the new Twin Atlantic album and personally I didn't think it was possible for them because their album 'Free' was insane and I thought building on the foundations of that album, you couldn't go wrong! Oh how wrong I was... I don't know if I'm the only one that is noticing so many bands lately with a rock 'nature' about them are just producing songs for the charts, for Radio 1 and nothing for the audiences like myself. Its all about getting coverage these days, getting known, but in completely the wrong way. The only way to do this at the moment is create a happy - go - lucky song with some major chords, some kind of trumpet or saxophone playing a catchy riff and the band shouting "YEAAHH, YEAAAHH" or "WOOAAHH", "WOAAAH"...so creative... The day that a rock band makes a solid rock album after their successful first one will be the day I can jump in the air and be happy. Right now though, rock is dying out and pop is taking over badly. I have hope and promise still for a few bands such as The Cape Race (check their review out on my blog) and Mallory Knox who are rocking the Radio 1 playlists right now.
The Cape Race - 'Home,Truths'
I hope everyone now understands my views and points where I am coming from about this issue. Its been playing on my mind for a while now and I thought this was the perfect time to say something especially with the new Twin Atlantic album being a real shocker. Thanks for reading and until next time Lewis
*Disclaimer* - So this review, isn't going to be the my usual "yeah this albums great" review. I have got negative outlooks on this review, so if you DO like the new Twin Atlantic album then I would advise you to not read if you don't want to hear anything negative. Its not all negative, but I hope you'll understand my points about the album. Hello! Welcome to blog post 29! Today I shall be talking about the new album from Twin Atlantic. Their second album was an absolute masterpiece. A great step forward into the business and I was highly anticipating this album to be just as rocky and fulfilling as the last. Twin Atlantic are a Scottish rock band from Glasgow, who in their last album 'Free', got a lot of success and radio play from Radio 1 and other stations alike. One of the songs was even featured on the video for the highest sky fall that was watched by over 36 million people! Not bad for your second album and now their new album has come around called 'Great Divide'. Although the two singles were not winning me over to buy the album, I thought I needed to check out the full album in case I was wrong about their new sound for this album. When I first heard their first single 'Heart and Soul', my immediate reaction was "oh no...another rock band going pop, please no!". Their second single wasn't much help either with quite a simple structure and happy chords although the song itself wasn't too bad. So...let me sum up the first three songs to you in three words. Waste. Of. Time. The first three songs nearly put me off listening to the rest of the album. The use of electronic pads and keys is just plain wrong for this band. Wrong. They use the same producer as the other record too, what was the guy thinking!? This to me just seems like a stunt for popularity which nearly cost them the album to me. Just skip to the song 'Fall Into The Party'...
If you listen to the second album 'Free', you'll notice its hard-driving, heavy and fantastic for the boys to perform. You just know from top to bottom on the album 'Free' that these guys pack a punch. Though this 'punch' seems to have been left behind from this album. There are some flickers of promise at the start of songs, but they don't follow through for the whole song. For example in 'The Ghost of Eddie' you hear the structure twice and think that's everything they have to give, but then the section where he whispers "everybody scream" into quite possibly the heaviest part of the album is a real treat to the ears of the shear noise. This doesn't happen in the new album. Don't get me wrong some of the songs on this album are good, but its nothing compared to the previous album. That was their second album...one to work from...one to keep moving forward from. Instead it seems like they have moved backwards, there isn't as much creativity or passion in this album. To me the aim was to get as much coverage on Radio 1 as possible and leave old fans to leave them alone.
When I'm listening to the album, I feel like Sam McTrusty's lyrics are trying to get us to learn life lessons. He talks about how "the youth of today have lost their voices" and that to him"music is my therapy"!? He even has the cheek (in a sense) in the song "It's Not Dead" that according to him, 'rock and roll is apart of me'. Go back and listen to "Hold On" and see how 'Rock and Roll' that track is... Apart from everything else I have mentioned above, I just hope Twin Atlantic can learn from their mistakes from this flop of an album and crank the gears up for album number four to impress all us rockers again.
The tracks I recommend (and could be the only ones) are "Cell Mate", "Fall Into The Party" and "Actions That Echo". Keep to these three and you have a pretty decent EP, how about that!? I promise the next review will be back to my jolly self! I might do a little discussion post again on Sunday about how a lot of rock bands are turning to mainstream and leaving their whole 'rock persona' behind just for more coverage. Until next time and thanks for reading Lewis
